In the United States, Versus TV will show some live coverage from every stage of the 2008 Tour de France beginning this Saturday, July 5. Coverages begins at 8:30 AM on most days and continues through 11:30 AM, though Versus will begin coverage as early as 6:30 AM for some stages. The complete Versus TV schedule is available here.

Your options are very limited if you live in the United States, don't have cable TV and you want live Internet streaming video, and the streaming video providers in Europe are getting very good at blocking access from outside of their regions. Versus will show live streaming video online for the early risers before TV coverage begins in the States.

For worldwide television schedules and Internet viewing options, Steve has a comprehensive listing of global television schedules and Internet video options at Steephill.TV.

Tour de France teams

Of the 20 teams participating in the 2008 Tour de France, three will have new title sponsors. Team CSC is now Team CSC Saxo Bank; Team High Road became Team Columbia after signing Columbia Sportswear as title sponsor; and Slipstream Chiptotle is now Team Garmin-Chipotle Presented by H30. Ken writes about the new sponsorships. I've seen the new CSC/Saxo kit; I've missed it if Garmin and Columbia kit has been unveiled yet.

Does anybody have idea when Garmin/Chipotle will be promoted to a ProTour team? They certainly have the roster for it and it looks like they now have the sponsorship commitment.

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Comments:

...oh, is it time for the annual "le debacle' du francais" already ???...excuse me, i meant to say "le grand bocoule"...my, my, where is my head, anyway ???...

...ok, ok, i'm intentionally sounding jaded but is hard to see it w/ out a certain sense of 'ho-hum'...no defending champion & his team (which also includes last years third place)...rabobank is included as is cofidis...& who else am i missing but they're including...wtf ???...

...we now know, a week before the tour, that epo testing is crap, so we're not assured of anything, monsieur prudhomme...we also know that the dilettante-ish aso is, through financially investing in the vuelta & forming an alliance w/ the organizers of the amgen TofC maybe, just maybe (do ya think ???) looking to control the world of pro cycling, as opposed to just "ensuring that we have a drug free tour de france".....that circle is getting more vicious, monsieur prudhomme...watch that it doesn't come around & bite you, s'il vous plait...

...but ya, i'll get there, when the wheels start rolling & phil, paul & mr roll mention that the pedals are being turned in anger...

...we all so easily put aside our knowledge of murky pasts & sit like children in rapt attention, letting ourselves dream of who might lift the trophy, backdropped by "le arc d' triomphe"...

Garmin-Chipotle won't be in the ProTour and may or may not be added next year. However, the whole ProTour thing seems to be flailing away since the major Grand Tours such as the Giro, Tour and Vuelta did not take part this year.

...i just realized i made a serious mistake...'le tour' is often referred to as ...i will now do whatever penance fritz deems necessary...i'd suggest three weeks of following le tour, on the ground in france but i have to miss the final day in paris......i can live w/ that...